Cardiac Arrest

​7th Sunday of Easter                                                                                      LSB #’s 496, 703, 851
Text – Ezekiel 36:26
 
And I will give you a new heart, & a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh & give you a heart of flesh. 
 
Cardiac Arrest
 
 
Imagine  you are in cardiac arrest.   You’re unconscious & have only minutes to live.  Would you be able to do anything  that could save yourself from death?     If you were listening carefully,  the obvious answer is “No.”   If you are unconscious,  you are not capable of acting.  As your brain uses its last remaining supply of oxygen  it will completely  stop functioning. 
As uncomfortable  as it may be  to seriously consider that,  at the final resurrection,  life will be restored  to your brain  & to your body.   At that moment,  a far more serious reality will become starkly clear  to you.  You will know,  with all certainty,  that you are either spiritually alive  or spiritually  dead.   And you will be on the doorstep of eternity  one way  or the other! 
In this life,  it’s not always clear to us  what our spiritual condition is.   Satan isn’t called the Great Deceiver  for nothing.   Jesus warns us in Matthew 24, “And many false prophets will arise & lead many astray.  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”  (24:11-12 ESV) 
The classic verse, describing how effective Satan is, appears in Matthew 7, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,  & cast out demons in your name, & do many mighty works  in your name?’   And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you;  depart from me,  you workers of lawlessness.’”  (7:22-23 ESV) 
Jesus warns us that people living in this broken world  can be very confused about the state of their spiritual life.  In fact, many who are unbelievers  will be convinced even at the Last Day  that they had been hard at work  following Jesus.  They will think  their love for others was alive & well,  even when it had,  in fact,  grown cold.   As uncomfortable as it may be to consider what happens  if you go into cardiac arrest,  it is more uncomfortable to consider  that many will end up in hell  when they thought  they were serving Jesus, “…did we not prophesy in your name, & cast out demons in your name, & do many mighty works  in your name?”  (Matthew 7:22) 
With that kind of deception at work in this life,  where can we find peace of mind,  & comfort for our soul,  if our sins  are weighing heavily on us?   It’s not uncommon to wonder if the Great Deceiver has gotten a hold of you,  or me,  or your children.  If you are in cardiac arrest you cannot save yourself,  & people in a lost spiritual condition  cannot save themselves either. 
That  is exactly what Ezekiel is writing about on this last Sunday in this season of Easter.  The day when Jesus rose from the dead  is a tremendously joyful blessing for all who trust in Him as Lord & Savior.    However,   you might have noticed  it also has its downside.  It can be twisted, by Satan & by sinful human beings,  into overconfidence.  
In Jesus’ day, the Jews weren’t all sure about a resurrection from the dead,  but they did trust in Abraham as their father.  And if Abraham was their father  they were saved.  If Abraham was their father,  it didn’t matter what they did,  they were going to  one day  rule the world.   In Ezekiel’s day, things were a little different.  God’s people had no such overconfidence. 
They were in exile in Babylon,  enslaved & about to lose their national identity.  Spiritually,  they were in cardiac arrest with zero hope of saving themselves.  God had designed this exile because His people had defiled the Promised Land with idolatry & child sacrifice.  In making them leave His land, however, their defeat & humiliation, caused other nations to gossip. 
Those who were victorious over God’s people attributed Judah’s disgrace  to Yahweh’s inability to protect His people.  This blasphemy had to stop because it defeated the purpose for which God called the people of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.  Yahweh had to discipline them,  but if this went on too long, they’d completely disappear as His people.  Although His people had been very confused about their spiritual condition,  God knew their predicament, & rescued them from exile, sending a remnant back to Jerusalem.  This continued the line of David down to Messiah, & it vindicated the holiness of Yahweh’s name  so the nations would know  He is Lord. 
God’s Spirit inspired Ezekiel to write, “Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came…  And the nations will know that I am the Lord, …when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”  (36:22, 23b ESV) 
Nevertheless, having fallen prey to all manner of idolatry, God’s people needed far more than physical rescue.  As the Lord declares, “…from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, & a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh & give you a heart of flesh.”  (Ezekiel 36:25-26 ESV) 
God knew the condition of His people then,  & He knows the condition of His people now.  If, spiritually speaking, you are in cardiac arrest & need a transplant, is that something you can do yourself?  No!  It must be done for you.   Have you twisted Jesus’ resurrection to mean there is nothing for you to do in God’s Church?   He wants to give you a heart transplant. 
 The Lord of heaven & earth seeks to cleanse us from our idols.  He longs to give us a new heart & a new spirit.  His greatest desire is to remove our heart of stone, the one that’s in cardiac arrest, so He can give us a heart of flesh.   Do you know where God performs that surgery?   His Spirit offers that right here  through His Word & Sacraments. 
In this life,  it’s not always clear to us  what our spiritual condition is.   Satan isn’t called the Great Deceiver  for nothing.   A heart of flesh is one that responds in God-given faith  to the working of the Holy Spirit.  If you are unable to see signs of life in yourself,  then God’s house is the place to be.  A day is coming when you will know,  with all certainty,  that you are either spiritually alive  or spiritually  dead.   When that day arrives,  your eternal future will have been set in stone.  There will be no going back.  “Behold,  now is the favorable time;  behold,  now is the day of salvation.”  (2 Corinthians 6:2b ESV)   
All of us  need  that heart transplant.  As we heard in the reading from 1 Peter, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled & sober-minded  for the sake of your prayers.”  (4:7 ESV)  Self control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  You can’t get that on your own,  & it is not part of your sinful nature.  It comes with the heart of flesh that God gives us. 
Satan easily deceives us into thinking that spirituality can be a do-it-yourself kind of practice.  And he is not our friend.  On Judgment Day, he will be overjoyed as Jesus pronounces judgment on those who chose to follow their own spirituality:
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,  & cast out demons in your name,  & do many mighty works  in your name?’   And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you;  depart from me,  you workers of lawlessness.’”  (7:22-23 ESV)   In John’s Gospel, Jesus warns the disciples how far astray do it yourself spiritually goes:
“Indeed, the hour is coming  when whoever kills you  will think he is offering service to God.”  (John 16:2b ESV)   Don’t try to do a spiritual heart transplant on yourself.   Allow God to change your heart & lead you on a new path,  one that leads to everlasting life.  Follow the lead of king David once he returned to God after committing adultery & murder:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, & renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, & take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, & uphold me with a willing spirit.”  (Psalm 51:10-12 ESV)   Amen. 
 
How can I thank you, Lord, for all Your loving kindness,  that You have patiently  borne with me in my blindness!  When dead in many sins  & trespasses I lay,  I kindled, holy God,  Your anger every day.     It is Your work alone  that I am now converted;  over Satan’s work in me  You have Your power asserted.   Your mercy & Your grace  that rise afresh each morn  have turned my stony heart  into a heart newborn.  Amen.  LSB 703:1-2.